The on-board electronic systems in an aircraft, such as the radio communication and control systems, are increasingly based on complex electronic circuits carrying out complex electronic processes. For this reason, it is technically necessary and required by various regulations, to quickly detect and disable or otherwise avoid interference radiations such as RF emissions that could possibly interfere with the proper operation of the on-board electronic systems. In passenger aircraft, such interference radiation is primarily generated by portable electronic devices, for example including electronic games, CD-players, portable computers and portable telephones, which are carried by the passengers and used on board the aircraft.
While some of such electronic devices may be safely used without generating harmful interference radiation, other such devices generate unacceptable or dangerous frequencies or signal strengths of interference radiation. The prior art has not provided an effective system for detecting and evaluating interference radiation signals, distinguishing between acceptable signals and unacceptable signals, and locating the source of such an interference radiation signal within the aircraft, so that the flight crew personnel can request that a particular offending electronic device be switched off by the passenger using it.